Cover Story

By Rob Holbert Managing Editor

When former Mobile County School Board member David Thomas ran over a little girl’s foot with his now infamous white Land Rover two years ago, it wasn’t only the beginning of the end of his political career, it was the end of a period of relative calm within the state’s biggest school system.

Up to that point, improving test scores, an unprecedented public vote to increase funding to the system and a spate of new construction had been the major headlines. Long gone were the shady reigns of past superintendents and the infighting so prevalent when Peggy Nikolakis stalked the halls of Barton Academy. Under Superintendent Harold Dodge, the past couple of years had been relatively smooth sailing – until Mardi Gras Day 2005.

Thomas’ saga devoured the next year and the relationship between the board and Dodge seemed to deteriorate precipitously. By the next Mardi Gras, the school board was preparing to move against Dodge, and shortly after “Beadgate” would erupt, after it was learned Thomas and fellow board member Hazel Fournier had used system funds to purchase $9,000 worth of trinkets to hurl to the crowds at Mardi Gras.

In the past year, John Q. Public has watched Thomas plead guilty to an ethics violation and be removed from office and the board vote not to renew Harold Dodge’s contract, despite his being voted Superintendent of the Year by School Superintendents of Alabama association. Additionally, the district attorney’s office is looking into possible trouble regarding the solicitation of fundraising donations from vendors doing business with the system, Deputy Superintendent Samantha Ingram has reportedly retained personal legal counsel and the local news has been awash in stories about more than 1,000 phone calls between David Thomas, Ingram and Denton Middle School principal Lori Taylor.

During all of this, turnover has been the watchword at the school board. Fournier and Bill Meredith are the only board members remaining from that fateful day when Thomas ran over the little girl’s foot, and Meredith had just come on the board a few months before it happened.

Today, Dodge is a lame duck superintendent still trying to hammer out the final details of an agreement that will keep him on the job through the end of this year, a timeframe that allows him to become vested in the state’s retirement system and the board to find his replacement. But if a recently released poll of 512 registered voters is to be believed, the public would be happier seeing the school board ride off into the sunset than Dr. Dodge. The poll, conducted by the Alabama Education Association teachers union, found Dodge enjoys an approval rating of 73 percent, while 71 percent of the respondents were either somewhat or very dissatisfied with the board.

Finding someone to run one of the nation’s 100 largest school districts may be tougher than anyone thinks, as it requires someone who can oversee at $547 million budget, 4,300 teachers and 8,000 employees. Dodge is quick to point out running the school system is a lot like running a very large company, and it’s unlikely the next CEO is going to be willing to do it for a measly $156,000 a year.

“It is a very complex organization,” Dodge noted.

Dodge is resigned to the fact that when the calendar flips to 2008, he will no longer be heading up the school system. His replacement will immediately experience the complexity of the organization, Dodge said, as there are numerous challenges and opportunities facing the system. One of those, he said, is it appears the state will be funneling up to $800 million to individual school districts for new construction. Mobile’s cut of that could be about $60 million, Dodge said.

That could aid the decision-making on one of the major issues Dodge says a new superintendent will face – school construction. Despite spending more than $510 on new construction over the last decade, he says much more is needed. Dodge also pointed to the national shortage of teachers as an area of concern for his replacement. A “drop program” implemented a couple of years ago to help get highly paid senior teachers and administrators to retire earlier has exacerbated the shortage, Dodge said, and created another area of concern for a new superintendent.

“The drop program gives teachers and administrators an opportunity to match the money in retirement,” Dodge said. “The plan encourages people to leave earlier and saves money. But it doesn’t work when there’s not anyone lined up to fill the chairs.”

Among the other big issues on a new superintendent’s plate will be middle school restructuring, high school reform and trying to keep test scores improving, Dodge said. Combine those big district challenges with a school board that is green and has been in the news for all the wrong reasons over the past couple of years, and some believe there is potential for a tough go in finding Dodge’s replacement.

“I’m told the Hoover (Alabama) job just opened and it pays $50,000 a year more than I’m making. That’s a much smaller district. What you have to pay may be different to get a superintendent in today’s market,” Dodge said. “But there are always superintendents of smaller districts who want to take on the big district. But there may be some who ask themselves the good question, ‘Why?’”

“Time for a change”

Dodge’s point about the pay scale is well founded. School Board President Dr. Judy Stout says the board is resigned to the fact that the next superintendent will be better compensated than Dodge.

“Homewood, which is one-tenth the size of our district, pays about $100,000 more,” Stout said. “We’re going to certain have to pay more than we’re paying Dr. Dodge.”

She said determining what the next superintendent will be paid is all part of the process the board is now embarking upon. Though the search has not officially begun, the board has already met with someone from the state school board who briefed them on the basics of the process. Stout said the board is determined to gather public input to determine what qualities their constituents would like to see in the new administrator. She thinks that process will take place by late spring and could include a series of focus groups that could include members of the Chamber of Commerce, the Mobile Education Foundation and other interested groups.

“We don’t want huge groups,” Stout said. “There will be some selectivity in the process.”

After that stage, a request for proposal will be sent out for consultants who will help gather qualified applicants. Stout said the selection of the consultant should take about a month. Once the firm is selected and has collected a list of three or four candidates, Stout said she would again like to see the public involved in helping to select the eventual superintendent.

“When we bring people in, we may have some meetings in public,” she said.

The whole process should be completed by Thanksgiving, so the new superintendent can move and be ready to take over by Jan. 1.

Stout says the challenges facing the next superintendent are not necessarily unique to Mobile, but are those shared by most big districts. She doesn’t believe negative headlines over the past year or working with a board that turned its back on the current Superintendent of the Year will prove daunting to potential candidates. She points to the fact that many school districts just in Alabama are looking for new leadership as proof candidates will be looking at their own situation, not Dodge’s.

“Superintendents know what those things are and know why some people are not extended contracts,” she said.

As for the basic reason Dodge will be leaving, Stout says it might be easy to fall back on the lingo popularized in many political campaigns – that it’s time for a change. She says Dodge served well, particularly earlier in his time in Mobile, but the demands of the job have changed.

“I think it’s time for a new type of leader,” Stout said. “We need an instructional leader, with the type of accountability that is required now. Of course, we still need an outgoing person.”

Who will it be?

Despite the fact that the writing is on the wall for Dodge and his tenure with the Mobile County School System, there is a daily undercurrent of nervousness in the community about who might succeed him and how it will happen. Over the past weeks, rumors have flown that Dodge’s contract won’t be extended even until the end of the year and that an interim superintendent will be put in place from among the current assistant superintendents.

Both Dodge and Stout shot that rumor down, saying they are in the final stages of the agreement that will keep him here through December. Stout said while there is always potential for an interim, if Dodge should get a job elsewhere and leave early, the board has already discussed the situation and agreed any interim would come from outside the district.

Dodge dismisses the notion that his status puts him at a disadvantage in doing his job over the remainder of the year, adding that his subordinates still see him as the system’s leader.

“I am neither lame, nor a duck,” he joked.

Stout, though, said “there is a lot of discomfort with Dr. Dodge’s situation among the staff,” which is one of the reasons any potential interim superintendent would come from outside.

Some seem to still hold out hope the board will reconsider and retain Dodge.

“The polling data shows the community trust lies with Dr. Dodge, not the school board. They need to consider that,” said Alabama Education Association representative Wade Perry.

Perry believes the board’s actions over the past couple of years could negatively impact any search.

“I would think the board’s actions and controversies very likely have made the job unattractive,” he said.

Ginny Russell, the vice-president of community and governmental affairs for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce said the Chamber was involved in Dodge’s selection and would like to be similarly involved in helping select his replacement. She said the Chamber has taken no official position on Dodge’s situation, but hopes the school board recognizes the importance of the superintendent to the community, not only educationally but from a business standpoint.

Carolyn Akers of the Mobile Education Foundation said the school board needs to move swiftly to pick the new superintendent and make sure the right person gets the job. Though no public plan has yet been articulated, she said, the effort to replace Dodge has been going on for the past year. Akers said she assumes a plan is in place.

“It’s a big deal. We’ve been on a trajectory that’s positive. We don’t want that to wane. Everybody knows it’s about leadership. The most important task of that board is to pick that leadership,” Akers said.

As to whether any of the trials and tribulations experienced by the system in the past year will negatively affect the selection process, Akers isn’t sure, but she knows the news has traveled.

“People know about it. People know Harold was Superintendent of the Year and people are confused about it. It must be on a lot of people’s minds,” Akers said. “If any potential candidate takes the last 12 months of what’s been printed in the paper or in Lagniappe, they’re going to say ‘What’s this about?’”

Rob Holbert is Lagniappe managing editor. Contact him at rholbert@lagniappemobile.com.

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